Desert Storms
by ncfan
Summary: 365 drabbles and oneshots about the residents of Sunagakure.
1. 01

**Characters/Pairing**: Sasori, Kankuro**  
Author's Note**: The difference between this and _written in the sand_ is that it's not just about the Sand Siblings; these can and will be about any past or present resident of Sunagakure I choose, and residents of other villages will make significantly more appearances here than in _written in the sand_. For the first chapter, I should tell you that this is AU.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Sasori doesn't even look at him. "I told you, I don't take apprentices. Besides, Chiyo-baachan's teaching you. Now get out."

Scowling, Kankuro marches out of Sasori's apartment and into the night-darkened streets of Sunagakure. Thwarted, yet again.

This is the third time he's tried to get Sasori to take him on as a puppetry apprentice. Kankuro has dreams, he likes to dream big and Sasori's larger than life.

This time, he will not be denied.

-0-

Late in the night, Sasori wakes to hear a loud thump downstairs. He sighs. Sounds like someone's trying to break in again.

_Let's see, are they trying to take my puppets or my clothes this time?_

When he gets downstairs and flips on the lights, the sight that meets Sasori's eyes is one that he both did and did not expect.

"Hello, Kankuro," he says calmly. "How nice of you to drop in."

Hanging about eight feet up by one ankle from a rope attached to the ceiling, Kankuro grins nervously. "Oh, hi, Sasori-sama."

Sighing long-sufferingly, Sasori goes to sit in an arm chair near where Kankuro is hanging. "You know what, brat, I'll make you a deal. If you manage to get down from there within an hour, I'll train you. Gladly. But you can't use that kunai in your pocket."

Kankuro scowls at him again.

Sasori only smiles blandly back, and steeples his fingers. "I'll be right here. Waiting."

-0-

_Fifty nine minutes later…_

Sasori is ushering him out of his house, brow slightly furrowed but other than that still perfectly calm. "Alright, a deal's a deal, but if you show up here tomorrow any later than 0700, I _will_ feed you to spiders in my basement. Now go away and let me sleep, and tell your mother I said hello." He slams the door shut in Kankuro's face.

All of Kankuro's sense of triumph evaporates for a moment. "Kaasan's dead!" He shouts, bewildered, at the door. "She has been for six years!"

No answer comes.

As Kankuro walks home, that feeling of triumph returns to him. He can barely believe it, but here's the truth:

He's gotten Akasuna no Sasori, Sasori the legend, Sasori the unrepentant freaking nutcase, to train him in the art of puppetry.


	2. 02

**Characters/Pairings**: Karura, Temari, Gaara**  
Author's Note**: This is an AU in which Karura survived the sealing; Gaara's still a jinchuuriki.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Temari finds herself rubbing the back of her sobbing brother and can't be more grateful when she hears that familiar voice. "Temari, what's going on?"

Karura's been away on a mission for about a week; when Temari looks up and sees her mother, Karura looks tired, her clothes dusty and travel-stained. She's shifting her fan across her shoulders, her eyes noticeably narrowed.

"Kaasan." Temari smiles a little for her mother, then goes back to rubbing Gaara's back. "Gaara's being bullied again."

What she feels when she sees that familiar gleam enter Karura's eye, far from sympathy for Gaara or gladness that her mother is back, is complete and utter terror. _Oh, not again._ "Is it the same little monsters as before?"

Warily, Temari nods.

Karura leans down and puts her arms around them both. "Darlings, go home. Kaasan's got work to do."

She pulls out her fan as she walks away.

-0-

"Otousama?" Temari pokes her head into the Kazekage's office when she and Gaara get back to the compound.

"Yes, Temari?" The Kazekage doesn't look up from his paperwork.

"Kaasan's home." Temari pauses to lick her dry lips. "She's beating up little kids again."

"The ones who always bully Gaara?"

"Yes."

"Let her, then."


	3. 03

**Characters/Pairings**: Karura, Kushina, Kazekage, Minato, Gaara, Naruto, Temari, Kankuro**  
Author's Note**: This is an AU in which Gaara and Naruto are still jinchuuriki but Karura and the latter's parents survived. Needless to say, if Karura and Kushina had lived, Minato and the Kazekage both probably would have been in trouble with their wives quite a bit; their respective marriages might even have been ruined.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

When the Kazekage thinks about it, it probably wasn't a good idea to bring his family along for the Chunin Exams in Konoha. It certainly wasn't a good idea for Sabaku no Karura and Uzumaki Kushina to meet. The Yondaime Hokage without a doubt agrees with him.

Karura meets the eyes of the younger woman—three years difference lies in their ages, so they're not exactly peers by shinobi standards—and quirks a half-smile. She shifts four-year-old Gaara in her arms and Kushina does the same with Naruto; the latter child, unlike the former, is asleep but Naruto won't be for long.

"Funny, what these husbands of ours will do for their villages."

"I agree; quite funny."

"Seal a bijuu into a child."

"With no regard to the fact that the mother's more than happy to take on the burden herself."

"Or that the child they're sealing a bijuu into is their own son."

"Or that this should matter to them at all."

"Or that their wife might like to have a little say in all this."

"_Exactly._"

Minato and the Kazekage are sitting on the opposite side of the diner booth from their wives and children. The Kazekage goes on drinking his coffee as though nothing's happening, though he does avoid Karura's stare. Minato tries his best to disappear behind his menu, occasionally peeking over the top warily, his spiky blond hair like radar of some sort.

Naruto wakes up and fixes his mother in a bleary-eyed stare. He likes to sleep to start with, but last night was rough; the seal was giving him issues.

Karura smiles and lays a hand on Kushina's arm. "I don't know about you, but the air in here's getting a little _stifling_. What do you say we take the kids and go somewhere where we can talk?"

Gaara looks up at his mother, disbelievingly, and speaks for the first time since they entered Konoha late last night. "Okaasan?" he whispers.

Kushina's grin is absolutely evil. "That sounds like a wonderful idea. I know just where we can go; do you and your children like ramen?"

"I'm sure we can make do."

As they're leaving, Temari lets loose with a nervous giggle. "Otousama's in trouble again," she whispers to her brother.

Kankuro rolls his eyes. "Otousama's _always_ in trouble."

Once they're gone, Minato glares at the Kazekage. "Why did you have to bring them?"

The Kazekage snorts, thinking that he's made of stronger stuff than this much-younger man. "I could say the same of you."


	4. 04

**Characters/Pairing**: Chiyo, OCs**  
Author's Note**: I can just see Chiyo doing this; she strikes me as the sort to really hate kids who aren't related to her or her students.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chiyo mutters something that probably wouldn't make it past the censors of several radio stations in Sunagakure when she sees the familiar heads come up the walk towards the remote home she and her brother share.

_It's those damn kids again_.

With obscene haste Chiyo goes over the schematics, making sure the traps are still in place and that none of them are damaged, and, seeing that everything's fully functional, smiles, gets into the lawn chair with the best view of the show and pops a kernel of popcorn into her mouth.

No, really.

It's going to be a wonderful show tonight.

The first child, a lanky preteen boy, gets caught by the battering ram and is unceremoniously sent careening down to the sands below. Chiyo cackles with delight, not caring if he's dead or not; kids these days are ridiculously resilient anyway.

The second, a girl no older than eight with brown pigtails, gets as far as the tripwire. Then, she finds herself hanging one hundred feet off the ground by a rope attached to her ankle. Chiyo's not going to get her down, no matter how much she screams. Someone will notice she's missing. Eventually.

The last, a ten-year-old boy, is caught at the genjutsu. When Chiyo last saw him, he was trying to fly; she doesn't think flapping wingless arms helped him very much as he went hurtling down to earth.

She smiles, takes her bag of popcorn inside and resumes fishing with her brother. It's been a good night.


	5. 05

**Characters/Pairing**: Maki**  
Author's Note**: Maki is one of those background characters in Naruto; she's a Suna kunoichi, and if you go to Narutopedia and type her name into the search engine you'll find out more about her. Needless to say, anything I say about her that isn't in her article is pure speculation. She's in the Fourth Ninja War arc, by the way; she's the one who seals Zabuza and Haku (She is at one point inaccurately referred to as "Aki".). I may write more about her in future.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Maki knows three things about herself.

She knows that her blue eyes make her stand out in the desert village of Sunagakure, where pale eyes are rare and undesirable—being more sensitive to the sun, it means that her eyes don't see as well across the sun-choked dunes as a dark-eyed companion would. Those blue eyes mark her as having foreign blood and it's true; Maki's parents were refugees from a foreign land.

She has been born with blue eyes and fair skin. As a result she covers up even more than a Suna nin normally does; her only skin visible to the sun is her face and hands. All Suna villagers wear kohl around their eyes to deflect the light of the sun but she wears it more thickly thanks to her pale eyes.

She'll negate genetic disadvantages any way she can.

Maki knows that she is a skilled puppeteer of the Aka sect of Sunagakure puppetry.

Everyone else knows too; it's obvious. Maki's red war paint spells it out, and even if it didn't anyone in Suna knows that a Suna nin as good with seals as she is has at least _some_ background with puppetry; the two arts just go together like genjutsu and poison or poison and medical ninjutsu or summoning and ninjutsu.

And Maki knows that she is a strong jonin of the Sand; even in a place where rank doesn't mean as much as it does in other villages (here, chunin and Tokubetsu jonin can become senseis just as easily as full jonin), her status as jonin counts for something.

And she will live up to that, as Kakashi calls for her to be ready with her cloth seal.

Maki is a Sand nin: quick, unyielding, and always ready. There is nothing that will stop her from being ready today.


	6. 06

**Characters/Pairings**: Baki, Gaara, Yondaime Kazekage**  
Author's Note**: Not much to report. Feedback is appreciated.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

There are times when, truly, Baki can almost bring himself to believe in ghosts.

The ghost he sees most predominantly is the one he least wishes to see and in the one he least wishes to see that ghost in. Namely, Gaara, and his father, the Yondaime Kazekage.

Of course there are similarities all throughout Gaara's life, but when the Yondaime is still alive Gaara is still too animal for him to bear resemblance to anything but a demon and his similarities to the Yondaime are lost.

It's after Gaara has been installed as Godaime Kazekage that Baki starts to see it.

The way he always has his arms folded around his chest, just as his father did. It's not something Temari or Kankuro do and Baki wonders if Gaara, who by necessity spent far more time with his father than either of his siblings, has simply picked up the trait from him.

And that frown… Even if Gaara's face looks infinitely less severe when he frowns, the resemblance is still startling.

Baki squeezes his eyes shut and takes a bottle of sake out from under his desk.

These resemblances, these uncanny resemblances, be it between Temari and her mother or Gaara and his father (Kankuro is no longer anything like his father), are cutting entirely too close to the skin for Baki's liking.


	7. 07

**Characters/Parings**: Chiyo, Sasori, Gaara**  
Author's Note**: Not much to say here, except that Chiyo is a bitter old woman and I like to think that came across here.**  
Dedication**: Dedicated to **sandydragon**.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

_The problem with both_, Chiyo decides one afternoon, sitting in a café and sipping her coffee, _can be settled with a single four-letter word. _That _word is at the root of most people's problems, anyway._

_Love._

Chiyo isn't sure what got her into the act of comparing her grandson (long-missing and long-dead, most likely) to the young jinchuuriki of the Sand. Maybe it was being forced to meet Gaara for the first time a month ago or maybe it was the news of Yashamaru's attempted assassination of the boy and his subsequent death that came a week past. Maybe it's just the fact that all that red hair is so familiar.

Gaara is turning out to be just the same as Sasori was at that age and beyond, though Sasori wasn't nearly so overtly psychotic and the bloodlust only came after he got his first taste of battle. _That's _the basis for her pensive thoughts.

Both Sasori and Gaara had been—_have been_—looking for love.

Sasori looked for it without _knowing_ he was looking for it; that, Chiyo was sure, explained why the first puppets her grandson ever made were fashioned in his late parents' image. He never said a word about "love", never seemed to acknowledge, even to himself, that that was what he wanted even when he interacted with Yashamaru and Karura and seemed to recognize, keenly, that there was a barrier between him and them. He saw that they were closer to each other than they would ever be to him and it rankled, though Chiyo was sure Sasori never knew why. His uncharacteristically awkward behavior towards his kunoichi teammate tended to indicate a lack of knowledge as well.

Gaara, on the other hand… Gaara knows _exactly _what it is he's lacking, and knows how badly he wants it. He also knows he'll never have the love of any; that can be the only reason for the bloody scar on his forehead, "_Ai_" standing out for everyone to see.

'_Love'. He carved 'Love' on his forehead the night Yashamaru died. A symbol of what's missing, a symbol of the yawning void. Would Sasori have done something similar if he had ever been able to tell what he didn't have, what it was he wanted so badly?_

"Love," Chiyo spits bitterly, downing her coffee and tossing the cup in the nearest waste bin.

'Love' is the root of all evils, and 'love' is what ruined two red-headed Suna nin before they could even be born in their own eyes.

Chiyo has no want for it.


	8. 08

**Characters/Pairings**: Kankuro, Karura**  
Author's Note**: Okay, angstiness with Kankuro!**  
Dedication**: Dedicated to **Guineahuahua**.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Kankuro, alone of his siblings, has nothing of his mother to his name, and he frowns as he fingers the picture frame and tries to see anything familiar in that face. He finds nothing.

Kankuro has no idea, really, why they all keep the picture of their mother around. Temari says Karura never smiled like that in real life (_And how well does she know, really? She was _three_ when Kaasan bit it_.) and Gaara never looks at the picture if he can help it. It just sits there in the living room and no one really pays attention, except to tell the cleaning lady to make sure she dusts it so Karura's visage doesn't get caked with dust.

Their mother's picture is the only one they've kept. Well, to be honest, it's not like they ever had any pictures of Yashamaru or the Yondaime Kazekage, but really, if Kankuro, Temari or Gaara ever found a picture of either of them it would likely be set on fire and then burned in effigy.

Back to the present, lying back down on the couch and staring at the picture, Kankuro sighs. Gaara's in a meeting and Temari isn't due back from Konoha until the end of the week. He has the whole place to himself and really, he wishes he didn't.

Wishes the boredom and the solitude wasn't so absolute as to drive him to this.

Kankuro finds himself fingering his cheek, frowning. Karura is a painting of gold and green, her skin tanned, her hair a rich gold and her eyes too green for the desert. In this face, Kankuro can see his brother and sister. He can see Temari's colorings and Gaara's fine bone structure. Kankuro, on the other hand, is purely his father in terms of looks, and he sees nothing of himself in this woman. Nothing at all.

_It's like I've got a stranger for a mother. I can't see myself in her. Not at all._

He sighs heavily, and knows why Gaara won't look at the picture of their mother, even if it is for different reasons.

The face is just too much of a thorn in the side, a spear to the heart to be looked at.


	9. 09

**Characters/Pairings**: Yondaime Kazekage, mentions of Chiyo, Karura and Gaara**  
Author's Note**: If you find the fact that I portray the Yondaime Kazekage at all sympathetically here offensive, please remember that it is from _his_ point of view and no one is ever the villain of their own story.**  
Dedication**: Dedicated to **Flipspring**.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chiyo's words are still heavy on his ears after the old woman leaves, her limp more pronounced than ever and her shoulders noticeably more bowed. She objected; it's surprising yet unsurprising, given her history with and attachment to the proposed sacrifice. But really, Chiyo and Karura had a falling out long ago, so what…

He cuts off those thoughts. Maybe Chiyo's finally started to pay heed to the callings of the weak heart.

God knows he can feel it tugging somewhere too.

What the Yondaime Kazekage knows is that if he goes ahead against Chiyo's advice (because whether she likes it or not she is still a shinobi of Sunagakure and disobeying his orders is treason), is that he won't be able to go back on his decision. If he chooses to go ahead, then in January when his youngest child is born the child will be a jinchuuriki and his wife will be dead.

Naturally, it's not something he can say "yes" or "no" to immediately.

Sighing, the Kazekage looks down at the folder clenched in his hand. _SEAL. JINCHUURIKI PROCESS_. Such simple words. Such very simple words.

_And Karura's life is worth this? And my child's life is worth this?_

Sunagakure is growing weaker. Sunagakure is one against many, the jackals circling close and thick, nipping at its heels. The Daimyo is a self-serving fool who seeks to cripple his own country. The shinobi are tense; they are waiting for another invasion, another war, and they know they won't win this one, not the way they are now.

_She can't be the only one. Karura can't be the only pregnant woman in Sunagakure. It doesn't have to be her._

But in a way, following the cold line of his logic, it does. Familial ties will encourage respect. Sacrifices are just that, sacrifices, and a kage can't ask a villager to make a sacrifice that he isn't willing to make himself.

_Someone in my own family. It must be._ His smirk is sickly. _I find myself caught in my own web._

_If only there was another way._

But following the line of his logic, there isn't, and the Kazekage sighs, preparing to call Chiyo back.

Karura won't see it the same way he does. After all, it's her life he proposes to send to satiate the Shukaku, but how, _how_ can anyone think that he would do something like this lightly? Chiyo shook her head at him in disgust but _how _could she not see the heaviness of his expression as he put his proposition to her?

He's the Kazekage. And he must act in the best interest of his village. The best interest for Sunagakure right now says that it needs a jinchuuriki to be a living weapon and a guardian.

And the Kazekage must do what is best for his village.

No matter what it costs him.


	10. 10

**Characters/Pairings**: Yondaime Kazekage, Karura**  
Author's Note**: **sandydragon's** review got me to thinking about this. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the movie _Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths_, but there's a concept from there that I find interesting. The movie suggests something along these lines: for ever course of action you do not take, an alternate universe with an Earth where you _did_ take that option pops up. Well, let's assume something along those lines is at work here. And yes, I know, it's a weird name I use for the Kazekage; if Kishimoto ever bothers to tell us what his canon name is, I'll change it to that.**  
Dedication**: Dedicated to **sandydragon**.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Let it be me instead."

Sabaku no Takeo, better known as the Yondaime Kazekage and still sporting a violent headache after the fierce argument he and his wife just had, frowns at this. He lowers his hand from his forehead to frown at her. Fury has left her face yet but Karura looks considerably calmer now, even if her face is set in a grim cast. "What?"

Dark green eyes narrow. "You heard me. Let the Shukaku be sealed into me instead of our child."

Beat.

The moment Takeo's mind finally registers what she just said, he explodes. "Absolutely not!"

"And why not?" Karura demands, baring her teeth. "You said it yourself. If you had another choice you'd take it, and this _is_ a different choice, Takeo! What's the difference between who the host becomes, so long as there is a jinchuuriki in Suna's hands?"

"You're too old," Takeo points out bluntly. "Your chakra coils are fully formed and hardened. They wouldn't be able to accommodate the Shukaku's chakra and your body would reject the bijuu. There's a reason a newborn is considered the optimal choice to become a bijuu's host, Karura."

She tilts her chin up stubbornly, and what was once endearing is now only maddening. "Uzumaki Mito was older," she challenges. "She was twenty-six and sealing the Kyuubi into herself didn't kill her."

"You don't have the Uzumaki's vitality!" Takeo snaps. "And Uzumaki Mito was ill off and on for the rest of her life, because the Kyuubi kept trying to break the seal."

Takeo braces his hands on the windowsill and glowers out on the night-darkened city. Trust Karura to take the most ridiculous idea and try to put some weight behind it. _It won't work; it just won't. _And trust her to make an already wrenchingly difficult decision even harder. _Damn it; I shouldn't have let her talk to me._

Gritting his teeth, he turns again to face his wife. "You're insane. I didn't think anyone could be more nonsensical than when Temari found that damn teapot and started talking to it, but you've proved me wrong. There's no way that will work, and I don't know what makes you think it will."

Karura crosses her arms around her chest. "I don't want to die." Her eyes harden. "Not in the way you have proposed."

"Let me assure you, having the Shukaku claw its way back out of your belly won't be a pleasant way to die either."

A sharp sigh hits the air as Karura sinks back into the nearest chair. "Just think about it." Her left hand is resting on her slightly protruding belly, her right sifting through her sandy hair, and Karura looks far older than he's ever seen her. "If you have the Shukaku sealed into our child, he—or she—won't be available as a true weapon until a decade or so has passed from birth."

Yes, he knows that. It's not the most attractive option but at least sealing the Shukaku into his child before the child is actually born will allow for a jinchuuriki host fully acclimated to the bijuu's massive chakra.

"On the other hand, if you wait until I've given birth and you have the Shukaku sealed into me instead, if I survive the sealing process and my chakra coils don't implode you should have your weapon in about the space of a year."

Takeo frowns. That doesn't sound half bad; if anything, the thought of having a jinchuuriki to bolster Sunagakure sooner rather than later is an attractive one.

Sensing she's making headway, Karura's mouth starts to twitch in a smirk. "And think. The Shukaku is renowned to cause insomnia in its hosts. Who's going to be better equipped to deal with that: a child who hasn't got a clue what's happening to them, or an adult who does?"

He… hadn't really thought of it that way.

_Well… If it works…_

_I can't believe I'm actually agreeing to this. Oh well; it has to be someone connected to me anyway, and Karura seems… _open_ to the thought._

Reluctantly, he nods. "Alright. But if the sealing kills you or the Shukaku decides it doesn't plan on staying, don't say I didn't warn you."

Slowly, Karura smiles.


	11. 11

**Characters/Pairings**: Gaara, Karura, others mentioned**  
Author's Note**: This is in the same AU-verse as the last chapter. I understand that, with the changed circumstances, Karura likely would not have named her son Gaara, but I honestly can't picture him with any name other than the one he has.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Like most four-year-olds, Gaara greatly appreciated bedtime stories told by his mother, even more so because she was so rarely home; something he received rarely always had more appeal to it. Since his mother was away on missions so often, he didn't see her much at all; any time spent with her was counted as precious.

The day that was now done had been like many other days. Kankuro had once again run afoul of Baki and had come insanely close to getting him with one of those snake puppets he liked to scare people with. At the Academy Temari had out-performed all of her classmates as usual. Gaara had stayed with Yashamaru and waited in cold, starched hallways as his uncle made the rounds at the hospital. A normal day, all in all.

Gaara couldn't quite restrain a smile as his bedroom door was pressed gently open.

"Still awake in here?" Karura asked, and the sound of the sheets rustling was all she needed to hear to know. "Alright, then." She entered, looking as tired as ever, but not biting back yawns as Gaara would have expected someone of the edge of sleep to.

He was a bit too young to know why Karura always looked so pale and tired. Gaara simply chalked it up to the strain of running missions like she did; everyone knew missions took a lot out of shinobi. As such, he didn't question why the dark circles under her eyes were more than just kohl utilized to deflect the sun's rays.

She came and sat on the edge of the bed, resting a hand on Gaara's thick, fine red hair. A bright but tired smile stole over her face. "You want a story, I take it."

Gaara nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Already knowing which book he'd want it from, Karura slipped a thick tome from the bookshelf. "Hansel and Gretel suit you?"

A new one. "Yes, ma'am."

Resuming her position on the edge of the bed, Karura thumbed open the book to the right page. "And when you're older, I'll tell you the story of how your father nearly did something impossibly stupid."


	12. 12

**Characters/Pairings**: Baki, Kakashi, Naruto and Gaara mentioned**  
Author's Note**: I can see them getting together like this.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Do you have any idea how hard I have to fight with the council to keep them from using him as a weapon? They forget every damn morning, or so you'd think, and I have to convince them again! It's completely hopeless!"

Given that they are in somewhat similar situations concerning a certain student of theirs, it's not entirely surprising that Baki and Kakashi have formed something of a rapport. Granted, it's a rapport that only shows over sake at a Konoha bar, but a rapport all the same.

Kakashi nods sympathetically. "It was bad for a little while after Sandaime-sama died. I'll admit that our council had a point; Konoha must make a show of strength in any time of weakness. It still stands that Naruto was never raised to be a weapon and frankly I don't think they could have made one out of him. They weren't convinced by my arguments; thankfully, Tsunade-sama put her foot down when she found out and they haven't brought up the subject since."

Baki swigs a bit of sake and grimaces at the taste; this place isn't exactly top of the line. "That's the rub. Uzumaki has never been utilized as a living weapon. Gaara _has_, and trying to convince the council to stop is like trying to hold a conversation with sandstone!" he spits.

Kakashi thumps him on the back. "Well I'm sure you'll think of something."

The Sand jonin's head collapses against the bar and he groans. "Yeah, _something_."


	13. 13

**Characters/Pairings**: Matsuri**  
Author's Note**: Just a weird little thing. The Sand nin have to have hobbies and things they do when they're not on missions, right?**  
Dedication**: Dedicated to **()**.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Matsuri is known for being one of the few people in Sunagakure to grow flowers on her house. Most don't bother; it's too much work and water's at a premium these days. Just about every plant to be found in Suna's grown in a greenhouse.

But Matsuri doesn't care. She pays a little extra for the water to keep her pet project alive and she gets the neighbors, civilian grocers, to look after her plants when she's away on missions.

It's worth it when it comes down to it and she can look all over the windowsills at her riotous yellow poppies. Mama always said that you weren't good for anything unless you could take care of something, and Matsuri's more than capable of looking after her flowers.

The fact that it costs an arm and a leg to maintain them means nothing. She's allowed to have her quirks.


	14. 14

**Characters/Pairings**: Pakura, Chiyo, OCs mentioned**  
Author's Note**: Shakuton is Japanese for "Scorch Release". If you're wondering who Pakura is, she's one of the shinobi Kabuto resurrected with Edo Tensei. Also, in the manga she seems a bit reluctant to fight when she discovers that her opponents are children.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

At twenty-four Pakura is the last of her clan; the rest were slaughtered in their sleep, the Leaf proving their cowardice in a way no one could hope to ignore. She wishes her misery to be avenged tenfold on those who took everything from her—father, mother, brothers and sisters, cousins upon cousins and more.

One day during the midst of the First War, she gets her chance.

Enemy upon enemy she has struck down, draining them dry with Shakuton. Shakuton combines Fire and Water release, burning the body beyond human endurance and draining the bodies of water, essentially mummifying them. Leaf nin call her a monster and tell themselves they were right to slaughter her clan; Pakura kills some more.

Eventually, the base set up insultingly far past Kaze no Kuni borders is so depleted of men that they surrender to Pakura and her group. In order to secure their own lives, the surviving nin give Pakura what they are sure she wants. They deliver the children of the nin who slaughtered Pakura's clan into her hands.

Six children are lined up on the dunes, forced to their knees with their hands bound behind their back. There were more than six shinobi participating in the slaughter, but only five of them had any children (two of the children are fraternal twins). They range in age from five to eleven.

Behind Pakura, young Chiyo hisses for blood, recommending no mercy; Pakura holds up a hand to silence the puppeteer.

Her dark eyes narrow as she looks at these children; the fresh sunburn on her bare shoulders starts to ache. One is a pale, blonde girl with a bright red burn across the bridge of her nose; the eldest is a boy who stares up at her with a mixture of defiance and stark terror.

Pakura has never had any love for the murder of children.

In the end, none of the six Leaf brats die. Instead, they are branded on their backs, the symbol being a large, garish phoenix—the symbol of Pakura's clan. Never will they be able to forget who they owe their lives to; never will they be able to forget what their parents did to bring them within an inch of death. These children scream and whimper and howl as the burning brand is rammed into their skin, but they are sent back to the camp with their shirts ripped and falling off and their lives intact.

They live to see another desert sunrise.

(A year later, the oldest of the children slits Pakura's throat while she sleeps.)


	15. 15

**Characters/Pairings**: Pakura, Chiyo**  
Author's Note**: This is basically a Sand nin's look at the Leaf's tendency to produce shinobi who talk too much.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"And that, young Chiyo," Pakura closes with a note of exaggerated officiousness as she takes her kunai from the desiccated body of a Leaf nin, "is why you don't let Leaf nin finish their sentences. They talk so much that it's insanely easy to just throw a kunai while they're monologuing."

Chiyo smirks and passes the canteen, huddling by the fire for warmth. "It certainly is convenient, senpai. Some of them even close their eyes and take their hands off their kunai while they're performing their little speeches. That always makes for easy kills."

"True, true."

The two Sand kunoichi sit in companionable silence, drinking warm, sandy water (still better than the swill the brewers at the nearest settlement are daring to call alcohol) and warming their hands in front of the fire. Pakura pulls a cloak from her pack and swings it around her bare shoulders.

Eventually, Chiyo looks at Pakura with her scarlet bangs falling over her eyes. "Senpai…"

"Yes, young Chiyo?"

"Why do you always call me 'young' Chiyo? I'm only about two years younger than you."

Pakura's dark eyes are veiled as she stares at the fire. "No reason. You just seem young to me. I'll stop if you like, but there's no particular reason." Before Chiyo can reply, Pakura looks up and smiles. "I'll take first watch; go ahead and get some sleep."


	16. 16

**Characters/Pairings**: Akihiro (OC)**  
A/N**: Not much to say here; I figured I was going to have to get into OCs eventually since this _is _going to be three hundred and sixty five chapters long.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Rule number one of Sunagakure shinobi life: There is no such thing as a solo mission. No one goes alone on missions no matter how trivial that mission may be, and every Suna nin knows why.

When the Kazekage's sister travels to Konohagakure to act as Suna's ambassador, she is escorted by five Suna jonin. Though Sabaku no Temari is more than capable of looking after herself she accepts this. They leave her at the border of Kaze no Kuni. When she starts to make the journey home from Konoha they are there waiting for her at the border; if she arrives before they do she simply waits in the nearest hotel for a sign.

Genin go on missions in teams. Chunin go on missions in teams. So do Tokubetsu jonin and regular jonin. Even ANBU go on missions at least in pairs, if not in full teams.

Everyone accepts that, even if sometimes they don't understand it.

Nin like chunin Akihiro, they don't understand it at first. They're too young; they haven't seen what can happen.

Well, soon Akihiro _lives_ what can happen.

His teammates are dead and he is lost. He's taken the water canteens and packs of food pills off of their bodies along with all the weapons (Tsukihito really _did_ like the senbon like the boys at home said) like he was instructed in the Academy, but it's not enough. The water runs out all too quickly and Akihiro finds himself on the sand, face down, wondering why he won't get to see his girlfriend or his parents again.

That's when the ANBU stationed at the base fifteen miles away find him.

And when Akihiro wakes up in a field hospital, he's learned.


	17. 17

**Characters/Pairings**: Yondaime Kazekage, Karura, Gaara**  
Author's Note**: I've made mention in my profile that I've given up on _Naruto_, but what I didn't mention and probably should have is that I promised myself that if Kishimoto _ever _got around to showing us how Gaara's fight with his dad went I'd go back just to see how it goes. Gotta say, for once our friend Kishimoto isn't disappointing me. I've gotten new material out of the bargain too. Needless to say, this is spoiler heavy for 547.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"What a small, feeble child." The words are barely audible and Takeo grits his teeth at the sound. No, not the sound. It's the tone in Karura's voice, the softness, the pain, the sadness, the knowledge. Completely uncharacteristic. The room is stifling and cold at the same time.

What Karura says next leaves him alarmed. "No matter what happens, I'll always protect you, Gaara." The sheer amount of regret there threatens to drown the words out entirely.

_Why? Why say that? Why now?  
_

All thoughts are cut off by the clamor of the machines around them and one of the medics steps forward, hand cupped around his mouth, hissing, "Karura-sama's heart rate is falling rapidly."

"Do something about it! Quickly!" Takeo snaps. _God, don't tell me you're giving up now_, he thinks despairingly, eyes snapping from Karura then back to the medics, now scrambling.

"I can hear you." Takeo's attention is brought back abruptly to his wife with that statement. Karura's managed to lift her head up just enough to frown at him, still gasping for breath, eyes barely open. "I'm dying, not deaf."

Takeo crosses the room to where she's lying and stares down at her, no longer able to keep the desperation out of his face. "Speaking to me again, are you?" Karura doesn't answer. "And you're _not _dying," Takeo insists stubbornly.

The suggestion of a laugh that turns into a thick cough follows. "That's not what the medics seem to think," Karura croaks, somehow managing to be wry. "And I can't agree with you." Her drooping green eyes turn to the child, now named Gaara, and Karura swallows hard.

Their youngest child is so small that Karura can easily hold him in her small, short-fingered hands, and this she does. A fragile life being held by a failing one—_no, not failing_. For the first time, Takeo looks at Gaara, really looks at him.

Still sticky and speckled with amniotic fluid, Gaara is pale and wriggling a little in his mother's hands. Tiny fists are clenched, and a soft fuzz of blood red hair is matted to his skull. The eyes are screwed shut and Takeo can already see black rings around Gaara's eyes, strongly resembling the marks that appear when Takeo uses the gold dust. _The Shukaku already shows signs of its influence._

Sighing wearily, Takeo reaches forward and presses one finger against his son's cheek. Weariness turns to surprise when Gaara shows energy enough to turn his head and open his mouth on his father's finger. It's then that Takeo realizes something.

"He has teeth."

Karura's eyes flicker slightly at this. "That's good," she whispers, voice slurred. "He'll need them. I won't… I won't be…"

"You are _not_ going to die," Takeo maintains as sharply as he can manage, taking his hand from Gaara's face to feel for her pulse, going cold at the slow, faltering rhythm. What he doesn't notice is the way the medics have all stopped, and are just standing there, waiting.

It's all come to nothing and the price is so, _so_ high. Karura is on the edge of death, Gaara, more than three months prematurely born, is about as responsive as his mother, and at this rate neither one of them will…

Everything crumbles, and this does too.

"What a waste," Takeo half-mutters, shaking his head and resisting the urge to find something to throw across the room.

"Waste?" Karura's cracked, whispering voice shows indignation swirling around with the all-powerful lethargy. She fixes her husband in a dim gaze. "You have no eye for value," she struggles to get out, somehow without the slightest hint of rancor, "as always."

It's more Karura's strangely mild tone than what she says that confuses him. Takeo forgets for a moment any fear or grief or anger to look at her uncomprehendingly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Eyes still cracked slightly open, Karura does not answer.


	18. 18

**Characters/Pairings**: Yashamaru**  
Author's Note**: Since **narutofan **asked, I've posted a list of the multi-chapter _Naruto _and _Bleach_ fics I'm continuing on my profile. I've decided from here on out that everything I might publish to _written in the sand _I'm going to post here instead, so consider that fic absorbed into this one. This has huge spoilers for 547 and 548; beware.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

There are several things about Sunagakure ANBU that the insiders know but the outsiders never will. One is that a Sunagakure ANBU can only ever reveal their status the members of their immediate family—parents, spouse, siblings, children, and no one else. Another is that when a shinobi enters the service of Suna's ANBU, they can never rise from the rank they were upon entering. If a shinobi is an eleven year old genin upon recruitment, they remain genin for the rest of their life. No matter what rank they are before entering, they take care to never let anyone know that they have acquired skills beyond the rank they occupied before entering ANBU.

Yashamaru is, as ever, the best. No one ever suspects him to be more than what he is, not even Chiyo who taught him.

Yashamaru has been a chunin for six months and though he is a good medic he's not a particularly promising shinobi as far as the skills of a soldier go. He's too soft; he doesn't like to kill. All Yashamaru really wants to do is stay in the hospital and heal the sick and the wounded for the rest of the days. He would have been happy with that, even if everyone else thought him ambitionless, directionless, and his new brother-in-law scoffed at him when Karura wasn't paying attention.

He is seventeen when he is called to join and serve, and no one can be more surprised by this than Yashamaru himself. He's a good medic, he admits to himself, but that's all anyone can say about him. Frankly, Yashamaru doesn't _want _to join ANBU, but in the end he doesn't have any choice; when one is called to ANBU, they come, whether they like it or not.

Karura is so proud; if there is any doubt in her mind it can't be seen in her deep green eyes and she smiles and hugs him, and Yashamaru just can't bear to impart his misgivings on her. The Kazekage raises an eyebrow but says nothing. Though he is notified of new recruitments the head of ANBU isn't required to get his approval for such things.

Before he enters ANBU, Yashamaru is nothing more or less than a middle of the road, slightly mediocre young chunin and perhaps that's the point. As much as ANBU scouts for new talent, they look just as hard for untapped potential, and apparently they saw something in Yashamaru that no one else did.

And upon joining ANBU, everything changes.

Yashamaru will readily attest that after accepting the call, he's never quite the same again for what he's been taught to do in the dark places. These are the just some of the many things that he can't talk about—trade secrets and all—but there can be seen his eyes growing older with each passing day. His face grows paler and paler, less likely to smile or laugh with each mission he's called away on during the middle of the night.

No one ever notices the new aura of quiet confidence about him, except maybe Karura and the Kazekage; to everyone else Yashamaru is still the shy, well-meaning chunin medic who just wants to fix everything and is utterly incompetent in all things unrelated to medicine. The changes are not apparent on the outside.

It's wartime and Suna has the need of every ANBU they can get. Yashamaru is sent on mission after mission, anywhere they think they might need an ANBU agent or a medic—ANBU is always in need of more medics and that might be the real reason Yashamaru was conscripted. He learns to serve and obey without question, learns to do unspeakable things for the welfare of the village. When the Kazekage calls he answers, he follows, he obeys. He is ANBU, the right hand of the village, and Yashamaru is the best. It is as simple as that.

This is why, though all the fibers of his brain are screaming, when the Kazekage tells Yashamaru what he has in store for Karura Yashamaru does nothing but nod his head and walk out hollowly, eyes huge and empty. He says nothing, does not even for a moment contemplate challenging the Kazekage or protesting this course of action. There are no tears until a dark, cool place is found where no one can find him. Even when everything is crashing down he has to go on, has to behave as though nothing is wrong; he can not do anything else.

Yashamaru still goes on missions, and he is on one when, more than three months away from her due date, Karura goes into labor and dies in childbirth, giving her last breaths to name her child and whisper a promise to protect, always. It's only then that he stops to question why, to wonder why this all had to happen. _I didn't even get to be with her as she died, _he realizes, and the urge to cry rears its head for just one moment before it dies, and it will never return again, for as long as he lives.

"_There's something I realized about you and your sister long ago, and it's never ceased to amaze me__." Yashamaru had been staring down at the face of his new nephew, barely daring even to breathe, when the Kazekage speaks and his eyes snap to the man's face. "Both shinobi possessed of a truly uncommon gift. It had nothing to do with ninjutsu or poisons or anything like that. Somehow, no matter what you have seen and what you have done, you have always remained at your core kind people. I have no idea how you accomplished it."_

From that day to the day he died and every endless night beyond that, Yashamaru can only assume that the Kazekage makes this remark because Yashamaru does not try to kill him. Yashamaru has made orphans out of many children in his time but he can't quite bear to add his niece and nephews to the list.

No, that's not it.

Personally, Yashamaru doesn't think of himself as very kind anymore. Karura was kind to the end of her days, kind to those who deserved it. The thing about Karura was that if she disliked you, you knew it immediately. She couldn't hide it and didn't bother to try. Yashamaru, on the other hand, could and did. He's an accomplished liar, and even if he hates you beyond all reason he can still greet you with a smile and behave as if you're old friends, and no one would notice the difference. No one but the Kazekage.

Yashamaru does not restrain himself from an attempt to kill the Kazekage out of any kindness towards his now-motherless niece and nephews. No, if it were that he would simply do the deed and take in Temari, Kankuro and Gaara himself. There are two very simple reasons why he doesn't try to assassinate his brother-in-law.

One, he doesn't think he could win. Perhaps in other villages a shinobi can become Kage through political clout, but Sunagakure decides on strength and ability. The Kazekage is truly the most powerful shinobi in Suna, and though Yashamaru is ANBU and well-versed in their skills and techniques and only a mediocre chunin on the outside, he can't win.

Two, Yashamaru just… just can't. Part of ANBU's conditioning is to ingrain unquestioning, unflinching loyalty to the Kazekage into all operatives. Yashamaru's personal feelings for his brother-in-law, a man he has come to hate above all others, are irrelevant; as an ANBU operative the very idea of attempting harm on the Kazekage is one he can't begin to countenance. Ironic, that the very people who gave Yashamaru the ability to cut down his enemies have robbed him of the capacity to kill the one whom he believes deserves to die more than anyone else.

A sublimation of hatred takes place even though hatred is never truly gone, and Yashamaru devotes his days to doing what he always wanted to do—working in the hospital—and what he never thought he would have to do—taking care of Gaara.

There is something of a problem with duties, but that problem is soon taken care of.

Officially, Yashamaru was never in ANBU to start with, so there's no problem on that front. Unofficially, he's been given a long-term assignment as Gaara's caretaker, far more dangerous a job than it initially sounds like. Well, that's the story the Kazekage gave the council, and, for reasons Yashamaru can't begin to fathom, they actually bought it. _Do they honestly think I had to be _ordered _to care for my nephew, that I had to be _ordered _to care for Karura's child? _Even less officially…

Even less officially, Yashamaru still takes missions.

Gaara sometimes wonders where Yashamaru goes some nights, when he disappears during all the dark hours and doesn't return until it's nearly dawn and the sky's starting to turn crimson and gold. Sometimes he wonders where those scratches came from, why Yashamaru's so jumpy or why he stares at him with such a wistful look on his face. Gaara doesn't dare ask. On the nights that Yashamaru slips away people disappear, and it has nothing to do with the Shukaku. Sometimes their bodies surface and sometimes they don't.

More than ever before, Yashamaru is the Kazekage's right hand man, carrying out his orders, and on one occasion even thwarting an assassination attempt.

The man comes running out of the shadows of the alley but suddenly he stops, paralyzed in mid-step. The Kazekage looks unimpressed, even bored, and Yashamaru comes stepping out behind the man, having effectively paralyzed him with puppet strings.

Yashamaru looks to the Kazekage, who nods, and he looks on stonily as Yashamaru, without batting an eye, sizes up his victim and kicks. A sickening crack follows, and the body slides to the ground, still twitching. When the twitching ceases, Yashamaru dips a shallow bow and retreats back into the darkness. He may as well have never been there at all.

Time isn't enough to dull his skills. Yashamaru is the best, and he does as he is told, exactly as he is told.

That's why he can accept the order to confront Gaara, even if, as with Karura everything in him tells him that this is wrong. _He's just a child. Why does this have to happen?_

It doesn't matter. In the end, it never matters. Yashamaru is ANBU and he does as he is told. If it means taking every good thing in Gaara's life away from him and driving him from emotional instability over the precipice into full-fledged insanity, then so be it. If Yashamaru has to break his nephew's heart and deaden his own, then he'll do it with a smile, as he's always done.

But as Yashamaru's dying and he reveals the explosive tags ready to detonate on his person, he decides he might be a kind person after all.

Gaara is broken beyond recall, and Yashamaru knows that the sand won't let him die. At least he won't have to face his uncle after this night with the revelations (_lies_) Yashamaru has imparted on him. Suicide was the kindest thing Yashamaru could do for Gaara, at the end.


	19. 19

**Characters/Pairings**: Kankuro, Temari, Gaara  
**Author's Note**: This is set in episode 218 of the Naruto Shippuden anime, after Gaara, Kankuro and Temari are done having their conversation about Naruto in Kankuro's workshop.  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Admittedly, neither Temari nor Gaara have ever taken much in their brother's tinkering nor with his puppets. Occasionally, Kankuro will need help with one and he'll want one of his siblings on hand to hand him tools, hold something still, et cetera (he doesn't trust anyone else), and Temari is generally the one who gets saddled with that job. As such, she's the first to notice.

"So you were able to get to the rest of the puppets Sasori left behind when he went rogue?"

Currently, Kankuro is fixing up the wiring in one of the puppets he uses most often, but there are many more than usual hanging around, and Temari, and after a while Gaara as well stare at them, eyes slightly wider than usual.

Kankuro doesn't look up from his work, but he nods, brow deeply furrowed. "Yeah, I was."

Several years back when Kankuro adopted three of Sasori's old puppets as his own, the move elicited several raised eyebrows but no comments. Sasori had been the best of the best as far as puppets were concerned, and it was natural for anyone and everyone to want to claim some of his works for themselves.

The only place Kankuro could have gotten these puppets was from Sasori's old home itself, and the place was confirmed to be heavily booby-trapped—the reason the apartment had never been rented out to someone else after the occupant vanished. Several nin had died before getting through the front door back in the day when Sasori was still freshly missing. If Kankuro had managed to get three of the puppets out then more power to him; no one was too eager to attempt to replicate the stunt, and it wasn't like Kankuro was telling anyone how he had gotten in and out in one piece.

Gaara frowns slightly, exchanging a quick glance with Temari, who now looks vaguely concerned. "Kankuro?" he asks in his soft, raspy tones. "How many traps did there end up being between the front door and Sasori's workshop in the basement?"

The puppeteer shrugs. "I lost count around seventy-three. I gotta tell you both; I'm _glad _I brought that gas mask. I mean, I knew Sasori was paranoid, we all knew that, but really? The battering ram was just egregious."

"You're not hurt, are you?" Temari isn't at all good with feigning disinterest when it comes to her brothers and she knows it; she adopts a noticeably sharp note instead.

To this Kankuro only waves a hand. "No, I'm not hurt. I've come into contact with Sasori's traps before; I knew what to expect when I went in there."

Temari nods, going over to pick up a detached arm off Kankuro's main desk before he makes a strangled sound and snatches it away from her. (_"You don't have poison immunities, Temari. Considering what Sasori did to his house God knows what he might have done to his puppets."_) The kunoichi's face darkens momentarily before readjusting itself into normalcy. "There aren't as many as I thought there would be," she observes, smoothing down the skirt of her yukata.

"Sasori took most of his work with him when he left. If he was smart—and he was—then the ones he left behind were probably the ones he deemed least valuable or useful in battle or for reconnaissance."

Again, Gaara and Temari exchange glances, though this time their eyes are blank. If Sasori deemed the likes of Karasu, Kuroari and Sanshouo to be among his least useful puppets, even before Kankuro's modifications, then the thought of what he thought to be among his _most _useful puppets isn't one they're entirely comfortable with.

"If you're wondering," Kankuro calls to his siblings, "no, I don't think anyone came in before me. Everyone knows how much Sasori liked traps, and poisons." An odd smile plays across his lips. "I think I was the first to even want to try in a long while."

This leads them to the question they wanted to ask in the first place. "Kankuro…" Gaara still wears a small frown "…why were you so insistent on getting the rest of Sasori's puppets into your custody?"

Kankuro finally looks up from his work, and that expression is one that they are learning to recognize: complete and utter seriousness. "I make good puppets. I'm not going to deny that just to be modest, because there's only a thin line between modesty and self-deprecation. The puppets Sasori made were better, though. They were the best; they always will be the best, until some new puppeteer comes along with his brains and vision but without the psychopathy. It's why I favor his puppets above my own." Kankuro's eyes darken, shadowed with foreboding. "If there's a war coming, I want to be ready. I'll probably use the three primaries more than I use any of these—" a hand sweeps upwards to encompass all the new puppets "—but I still want these too."

"I suppose we all do," Gaara replies, as he and Temari step out of the room, leaving Kankuro to his work.

He always works best when left to his own devices.


	20. 20

**Characters/Pairings**: Gaara, Nidaime Mizukage**  
Author's Note**: I think that my relationship with _Naruto _as a manga has become something like this: I will read it, but only because Gaara's in it and I have long since ceased to care about Naruto's involvement in the plot.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

_Too. Freaking. Close, _Gaara can't help but think to himself as the Nidaime Mizukage is sealed away. He isn't one usually given to cursing, or even words considered substitutes for curse words, but right now, Gaara can't help but think he has an excuse. Plus, he's tired, and Gaara isn't very eloquent when he's tired.

"The old bastard in there?" Onoki, on the other hand, has no issue with cursing like a sailor, as he comes up, leaning on a stick and rubbing his back with a groan. His already cantankerous face is even more irritable than usual and he tips his head towards the sealing area.

Gaara nods and, without further ceremony, Onoki plops down on a rock beside him, hand constantly at his back. The chance in position apparently causes him pain, because he starts swearing under his breath and snarling furiously. Gaara decides to head off any action misinterpreted as an insult by tactfully ignoring him. Instead, his thoughts turn to the battle.

"_You really are a golden egg."_

Given the Nidaime Mizukage's reputation, even Gaara, who has never exactly subsisted on praise, especially given that he hardly ever received it to begin with, can't help but be just a little gratified by his praise. He hadn't been an easy man to beat, and Gaara would only classify his battle with the Nidaime as "difficult" if he wanted to reaffirm his status as the world master of the Understatement.

Being praised by a legend like the Nidaime Mizukage can't help but give him a little bit of a warm feeling. Even spending his childhood as an all but feral child, Gaara heard stories of the old days, and heard enough about the Nidaime Mizukage to know his reputation, even if he hadn't researched closely enough to know about most of his techniques.

_I would have liked to get to know him better_, Gaara thinks, narrowing his eyes as he surveys the countryside. _Perhaps, if circumstances had been different…_

Then, his thoughts turn to something else, and Gaara looks distinctly as though he's just swallowed a lemon.

Onoki notices and frowns. "What's with that face?"

"Hmm?"

"Kids," the Tsuchikage mutters, and stands with a groan, leaning precariously on his stick. "You just beat the Nidaime Mizukage in open combat; not entirely sure how you did it, since I was a bit busy with the medics, but you did. You ought to be beaming, but instead you look like someone decided to eat your puppy for supper." Onoki frowns sternly up at him. "Why?"

Gaara sighs. "Because I just realized that if either of my siblings _ever _find out that someone called me a 'golden egg', they will never let me live it down."


	21. 21

**Characters/Pairings**: Yondaime Kazekage, Karura, Chiyo**  
Author****'****s**** Note**: This can be considered a sequel to chapter 10, and in the same AU universe as well. Also, while Minato and Kushina were able to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto relatively quickly (at least from my interpretation of that scene), I say this for the time needed to seal the Shukaku: different bijuu, and maybe a different seal as well. There are different requirements.**  
Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"I really do hate you sometimes."

"I will remind you that this was _your_ idea," Takeo mutters, nodding to Chiyo, who couldn't look more dubious about this situation if she tried. "And I still say this is probably going to kill you."

Karura lies on her back in the middle of the sealing circle, her shirt pulled up enough to expose the black lines painted on her belly. It's been a month since she gave birth to her youngest child, named Gaara (As usual, Takeo didn't get the chance to name his child before Karura got something out, and as a result now he has three children with bizarre names, thanks to Karura's nonsensical taste in names), and Karura has finally regained the strength Chiyo says is needed for the sealing.

_I__ still __think __this __is __a__ bad __idea, _Takeo thinks to himself, but neglects to say out loud. He's been saying it for the better part of the past six months, even through Karura's plan being (albeit with a high degree of reluctance and the warnings "_You__ just don__'__t __have __the __Uzumaki__'__s __vitality, __Karura. __No __one __but __Uzumaki __Mito __has __ever __been __known __to __survive __having __a __bijuu __sealed __into __them __as __an __adult.__"_ to which Karura replied sharply "_Maybe__ that__'__s __because __Mito __was __the __only __adult __who __ever _tried.") approved by Chiyo and the advisory council. He just said it, even if in not so many words, and if Karura wasn't going to listen _now,_Takeo doesn't see how he's going to be able to convince her at all.

_Well, considering the only alternative at this point is Gaara, who has turned out to be compatible after all, I suppose this could just be maternal instinct rearing its ugly head._

On some level, Takeo is both glad and quite angry that Karura managed to talk him into this. Glad, because, in retrospect, he recognizes now that having the Shukaku sealed into his child and robbing all of his children of their mother in the process wouldn't have done anything for Gaara's mental stability. He supposed she had a point about the insomnia as well; an adult would handle it better and would be less likely to explode because of it. _Karura__ may __end __up__ being __the __first __emotionally __stable __host __the __Shukaku__'__s __ever __had._

His anger comes about at the fact that Karura was fool enough to volunteer herself and he was fool enough to go along with it. That the likelihood of her surviving this is small indeed doesn't help. He's tense and every bit as nervous about this whole thing as Karura, whose eyes dart around the hot, low-ceilinged chamber, constantly flickering back and forth from the occupied body bag at her feet. Takeo reaches over and grips her hand briefly; she shoots a glare but doesn't shake him off.

Yashamaru is standing guard outside to make sure no one tries to interfere with the sealing. He's no happier about Karura's decision than her husband is, but being the submissive younger sibling, he goes along with it and has offered to render aid as needed.

"You will stay to subdue the Shukaku if things go wrong?" Chiyo asks of him, eyes narrowed as she gets into position on Karura's left hand side and unwraps the teapot, the Shukaku's prison, from its linen rags. She sighs and smoothes down her skirt.

"Of course."

"One question." A vein in Karura's jaw is jumping wildly, her breathing ragged and heavy as she lifts her head from the floor. "Who was the sacrifice?" She nods to the zipped-up body bag.

Takeo opens his mouth to answer but Chiyo beats him to the punch. "A criminal slated for execution," she answers matter-of-factly, not looking her former student in the eye. "He did not have family or friends. There was no one to miss him. You did not know him, Karura," the old sealing master adds, in an attempt to mollify the one whom she will be performing the sealing on.

Karura lets her head fall back to the floor, brow furrowing. She gives no sign of commenting either in approval or disapproval (_More__ likely __she__ doesn__'__t __know __what __to __think __of __all __this_), and Chiyo holds her hand out over the black ink characters painted on Karura's belly.

"We will start now. If all goes well, the sealing should take no more than six hours."

-0-0-0-

If Karura thought she had stepped into the Twilight Zone when she first became aware that her youngest child was being considered as the Shukaku's third host, with her as the sacrifice, as of right now, she's quite convinced that she's stepped into Hell.

_I__ agreed__ to __this? _Pain floods every synapse in her body. Light explodes in front of her eyes. Another scream wrenches itself from her mouth, so guttural and inhuman that Karura can barely believe it belongs to her. _I__ volunteered __for __this?_ There might be voices around her; there might not be. All Karura can think about is the pain.

(_"__Grab __her __shoulders! __Hold__ her __down!__" __Chiyo__ snaps __to __Takeo, __shaking __her __head __and __snarling, __quite __sure now __that __she __should __have __pressed__ a __little __more __strongly __for __iron__ restraints. __Karura __is __writhing __within __the __sealing __circle, __thankfully__ too __weak __to __get __up__ of __her __own __accord, __given __that __the __sealing __of __a__ bijuu within its new host __requires __the __draining __of __the __prospective __host__'__s __chakra __to __a__ dangerous __extent._

But even allowing for the fact that she's too drained to put up a fight on her own, there's still the Shukaku to worry about, _Chiyo__ muses __gloomily, __continuing __the __process __of __sealing. _At this point in the sealing, if things go wrong the bijuu could well become the dominant personality in the host's body. This will be the moment of truth. If the Shukaku becomes the dominant personality we will have to kill Karura and imprison the Shukaku back inside of its teapot.

For myself, I do truly hope it doesn't come to that.

_The young Kazekage, never having personally witnessed a sealing ceremony before, wears a face of poorly disguised alarm, but he does as he's told, seizing his wife's shoulders and holding her down so she can't inadvertently disrupt the sealing. Chiyo already took the opportunity at the last moment of rest to bind Karura's hands and feet together with strips of linen cloth so she couldn't claw or kick; with this, there should be enough to keep her restrained throughout._

_Chiyo looks up from the siphoning of the Shukaku's chakra long enough to see that Karura's eyes are still open. Fevered, the bloodshot sclera making the irises seem all the more green, her eyes dart all around the chamber, barely seeming human._

"_Just a few hours longer," the Kazekage mutters, despite having to know that she probably can't hear a word of it. "Just a few hours longer." The look of frustration that passes over his face is the impatience that Chiyo is used to seeing out of him, but it's probably just as much tension over what happens if this goes wrong.)_

_Small __wonder __the __last __two __hosts __went __mad. _Karura can understand now the travail the last two hosts endured, if only from the standpoint of the agony of the sealing itself. This pain on its own would be enough to drive the strong irrevocably mad. What follows… That, she has learned from records and from watching the rampages of the last host when she was a child and teenager.

And what waits if she survives the sealing and the Shukaku doesn't decide to claw its way out of her body? Karura is intelligent enough to recognize that acclimating to the normally toxic chakra of a bijuu will be a nightmare, if she ever manages to acclimate at all. Learning to utilize the Shukaku's abilities, the sand, that isn't going to be a picnic either. Beyond that, there will be the ostracism of the village, the unfortunately not entirely unjustified ostracism that comes against jinchuuriki. _Those__ who __have __great __power __that __does __not __have __as __its __equal __control __will __always __be __feared __for __the__ threat __they __represent._

All these thoughts cross her mind, but in the end the only thing that sticks is the ravening pain. Every cell feels as though it has been set ablaze, as though there is fire in her veins in place of blood. _Is__ this __death? _Her tongue is dry and swollen, hair, skin and clothes drenched in sweat. _If__ not, __will __it __hurt __this __much __when __I __die? _She doesn't know if she's still screaming. _I__ don__'__t __care __if __I__'__m__ dying __or __not. __Please, __please, __just __let __it __stop __soon._

Karura thought she was properly acquainted with pain. During her life as a kunoichi, she's had her fair share of injuries, one of which left her with a limp and the occasional need for painkillers to be able walk normally. She's had cuts and bruises and long gashes and scars. Broken bones eventually became small fish to her. But none of that was ever on this scale.

_It's either me or Gaara. There's no going back now._

_Why__ was __this __ever __necessary __in __the __first __place? _Her fear turns to anger as she thinks of her husband, Chiyo, the advisory council, everyone who decided that the creation of a third jinchuuriki was necessary. _What__ sort __of__ lunatic __ever __came __up __with __the __idea __of __the __jinchuuriki host __in __the __first __place, __and __where __can __I __find __them__ to __either __kill __them__ or __desecrate __their __grave?_

Oh yes, she's angry, but mostly, Karura is in a great deal of pain, and she's just very, very tired.

_Please let it stop._

The disembodied screaming that might be hers continues.

-0-0-0-

"It's done," Chiyo announces, wiping her brow and leaning back, breathing heavily. Such a thing as this was taxing even when she was younger, and it's not like she's young anymore. "It appears—" and she can only make this sort of judgment since the Shukaku isn't going on a rampage "—that the sealing was successful." She reaches over to jerk Karura's shirt back down over the seal. The black lines will fade in time, to come to prominence only when the Shukaku's chakra is utilized. Next, the strips of cloth binding her hands and feet are untied and removed—no more need for them.

Everyone is breathing hard. Chiyo, who would like nothing better than to go home and sleep for the next week or so, Karura, whose eyes are slightly open and who at the most is only half-conscious, even Takeo, even though the limit of his assistance with this process was restraining his wife from attempting to get up during the sealing. He's looking on this with some bemusement, obviously cataloguing this away in the category of new experiences.

He nods, swallowing. "Can she be moved safely?" he asks, strangely ginger about the whole thing.

"Yes, I think so," the elderly woman mutters. "I'll get Yashamaru to—"

"That won't be necessary." Chiyo's brows shoot up in surprise as the Kazekage, with a groan, gets to his feet and gathers his half-conscious wife into his arms. "Just get the door," he requests, too tired for a sharp note and tottering slightly under Karura's weight.

"Such a price to pay," he can be heard to mutter, staring down into her face with an unreadable expression painted over his skin. Karura's eyes are still cracked half-open, but she doesn't seem to see him or anyone else. "Better than the alternative, but still so steep."


End file.
